Surprise! I'm back on here! I wanted to boot this back up a while ago but then theatres in Ontario closed so there just wasn't enough that I could passionately write about. Luckily, theatres opened back up today meaning I had the chance to see my most anticipated movie of the year and I am just too excited to not write about it.
This marks the fifth entry in the iconic Scream franchise, the first to not be directed by the late great Wes Craven and the first to be released in over 10 years. Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, better know as Radio Silence take over and deliver the best in the series since the 1996 original. The first film is one of my all time favourites and has had a huge impact on me over the past few years, so the fact that this crew managed to not only meet but exceed my expectations is a real triumph in my opinion.
I used to always give a plot synopsis in my reviews, but it's hard to for this one without spoiling anything so I'll just say that Ghostface is back, and of course slicing people up again. Along the ride are Sidney, Gale, and Dewey from the first four films, along with a great cast of new characters, most holding ties to the characters fans of the franchise have come to know and love.
Taking on this project had to have been a tough task for Radio Silence as they not only have to deliver the next instalment in a franchise so beloved, but also follow up the legacy of one of horror's greatest. They hit this out of the park though. Scream (2022) perfectly hits the tone of the earlier films, delivering a blend of almost cheeky self awareness with a great whodunnit, all while delivering great scares along the way. This is for sure the most bloody of the films, reaching a brutality that I think Craven would have been truly proud of. But what really wowed me was just how well these filmmakers understood the way the franchise operates and how to creatively scare the audience. They play on tropes hard to lure out false senses of fear only to get you as soon as your heart settles back down. It's so much fun anticipating what's to come throughout the film thanks to this, as there's so much to second guess. They clearly know when to subvert and lean into the tropes of the franchise and it's really commendable. This is also the most emotional film in the franchise, almost feeling at times like a Force Awakens for Scream fans in how well it ties in the past and present to deliver for the die hard audience. I won't lie, I cried several times even before the "for Wes" card at the end of the movie. Another part of this I also loved was that it let us see the franchise's take on a whole new era of horror. The first three got to touch on slashers of the 80s and early 90s, Scream 4 got to make fun of the age of reboots from the late 2000s and early 2010s, meanwhile this film gets to play off of the rest of the 2010s, a decade that resurrected the seemingly dead genre to where it is not quite possibly the best it has ever been. There's so many great jokes and references to what has come since Scream 4 and it's just awesome to see.
All the excellent work of the crew is complemented by a fantastic ensemble. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette all come back strong, not taking the amount of screen time I expected but still prominent enough to effectively pass the torch to the new faces. Melissa Barrera from In the Heights plays the lead Sam, and while I found her to be one of the weaker performances of the bunch she still carries the film pretty well. There are just a few moments where I found her a tad unconvincing but it is by no means a bad performance. Jack Quaid is a standout, as are Jenna Ortega and Dylan Minnette. I have to say though, my favourite newbies are without a doubt Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown as Randy's nephew and niece. Randy was one of my favourite characters from the earlier films and these two are perfect capturing his essence, especially Savoy Brown.
All in all this was everything I wanted. It's a reboot-quel that does a just magical job of giving something new while also deeply honouring the greatness and influence of what came before. It's bloody as hell and for fans of the franchise it's a pretty emotional ride. There are small elements that didn't work perfectly for me, but as I think you can tell nothing bothered me enough to get in the way of me loving the movie. I'm sure people without the deep love of these movies I have will be less enthusiastic as me, but it still stands alone as a great horror movie and is tailor made to be loved by Scream fans.
Rating: 4.5/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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